The UFC appears to be absolutely stacking the UFC 280 card scheduled for Abu Dhabi this October.
The latest addition is two surging lightweights. Beneil Dariush (21-4-1), returning from an ankle injury, will face former KSW double champ Mateusz Gamrot (21-1, 1NC) at the event.
ESPN was first to report news of the match-up.
Dariush had been expected to face off with Islam Makhachev back in February, before the aforementioned injury took him out of the fight. Makhachev is expected to compete on the UFC 280 card as well — for lightweight gold, against Charles Oliveira.
As for Dariush, the 33-year old is on a seven-fight win streak, last fighting in May of 2021 when he defeated Tony Ferguson. Over a year on the sidelines has halted his momentum, but a win over Poland’s Gamrot could land him right back in the fray.
“Gamer,” meanwhile, has been a breakout star for the UFC since joining the company in 2020. 4-1 inside the octagon overall, Gamrot has won four straight, and is coming off his first main event with the promotion — which saw him win a unanimous decision against fellow rising lightweight talent Arman Tsarukyan.
In terms of the fight’s placement on the card, while nothing has been announced, you could do worse than Dariush or Gamrot should one of the main event players fall out.
UFC 280 is set for the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on October 22, 2022. The following fights have been reported for the card thus far:
- Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev – for the vacant UFC lightweight championship
- Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. T.J. Dillashaw – for the UFC bantamweight championship (in the works as of this writing)
- Belal Muhammad vs. Sean Brady
- Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley
- Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot
